[dba-Tech] Question about Radio technology

John W. Colby jcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Mon Nov 24 18:03:30 CST 2003


AM:  Amplitude modulation.  Modulation of the SIZE of the wave caries the
information you wish to transmit.
FM:  Frequency Modulation.  Modulation of the FREQUENCY of the wave carries
the information you wish to transmit.
Short wave:  hmmm... really pretty meaningless.  Long wave was an old
"classification" for all frequencies under about 2 mhz if I'm not mistaken,
iow anything in or below the AM band.  Short wave was 2 mhz and above.

So, AM and FM are methods of modulating a carrier to impress information on
the carrier.  Long wave / short wave are just old terms for "bands" of
carrier frequencies that were available to amateur radio operators.

Bear in mind all this is OLD knowledge, from my high school days.

http://www.arrl.org/ is the home page of the Amateur Radio Relay League, the
organization that radio operators rely on for their interests.

I got my start in Electronics because a friend of my grandmother gave me a
bunch of old WWII radio equipment - ARC5 tube radios that went in airplanes.
This was 1969, I was a freshman in high school, and I thought these things
were worth thousands of dollars.  They weren't, in fact they were already
pretty much valueless, but it inspired me to study the ARRL manual and learn
Electronic Theory (such as it was in the books from the late 50s that I also
received).  By the time I left High School, I was able to teach the HS
electronics course when the teacher was out sick and they called in a sub
(who knew nothing of course).

Joined the Navy, learned to fix all the components of big computer centers,
and it was all downhill from there.

I got out of electronics in 1986 however and haven't used it much since.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 3:37 PM
To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
Subject: [dba-Tech] Question about Radio technology


Someone asked me to explain the difference between AM, FM and short wave
and I suddenly realized that I have huge gaps in my alleged knowledge of
same. Can someone point me to a net-splanation or supply one?

TIA,
Arthur


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